Our View: "Investment, not consumption"

Reading proficiency among third-graders, as tested by the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System, has remained virtually stagnant since 2001.

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Posted Mar. 22, 2013 at 12:01 AM

Posted Mar. 22, 2013 at 12:01 AM

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Reading proficiency among third-graders, as tested by the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System, has remained virtually stagnant since 2001.

Only 61 percent of third-graders overall, 38 percent of African-American third-graders and 36 percent of Hispanic third-graders are proficient in English Language Arts.

Now consider that children who struggle with reading in third grade are four times less likely than other students to finish high school by age 19. And each high school dropout in Massachusetts costs, on average, $349,000 more over a lifetime — in decreased tax revenues and increased public assistance costs — than the average graduate.

Extensive research now shows that high-quality early education produces short- and long-term benefits, particularly for children from low-income families. Those who attend an early education program are 40 percent less likely to be referred to special education or held back a grade, 30 percent more likely to graduate from high school and twice as likely to attend college.

"Children's ability at age 4 to pay attention and complete a task strongly predicts their chances of graduating from college by age 25," said Irene Sege, director of communications for the nonprofit Strategies for Children in Boston. "At age 40, adults who had participated in high-quality early education as children earned, on average, $5,500 more annually."

The bottom line is, early education is an excellent investment. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke has said there are few alternative investments that produce the kinds of returns that high-quality early education does.

Unfortunately, only 30 percent of 4-year-olds are enrolled in a high-quality preschool program in the U.S. Middle-class parents can't afford a few hundred bucks a week for a private preschool.

Which is why Gov. Deval Patrick has proposed $131 million in new investments in early education, framed around three critical outcomes for children — school readiness, third-grade reading proficiency and closing the achievement gap.

"We know that too many children enter kindergarten already behind, and too many never catch up," Sege said.

The governor's budget recommendation would phase in the elimination of the wait list for infants, toddlers and preschoolers — currently at about 30,000 children.

It would also enhance quality throughout the mixed delivery system of public and private providers — center-based programs, public school pre-kindergarten, family child care and Head Start.

Twenty years ago, Massachusetts launched education reform, established standards, invested millions of dollars in K-12, and earned a well-deserved reputation as a national leader in education. Yet for all the progress Massachusetts has made, the task remains unfinished, Sege said. Funding for early education and care has declined more than $80 million since fiscal year 2009.

Strategies for Children is a diverse group of professionals led by Paul O'Brien, the former CEO of New England Telephone, who is a Republican. He says increasing revenues for high-quality early education "is investment, not consumption." He urged the Legislature to heed the advice of the Committee for Economic Development, a nonpartisan, business-led public policy organization.

"Our nation now faces tough choices to renew the economy, but fiscal prudence cannot be served at the expense of under-investing in the well-being and future of our children — and thereby preventing unnecessary remedial expenditures," the organization says. "It is vital for our country's future that investments in our youngest children remain a major national and state-level priority."